


Meteor Shower

by Kittywu



Series: Jearmin Week III [4]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, Jearmin Week, M/M, Merman! Armin, Prompt: Stargazing, continuation of save me, fluff and a bit of angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-18
Updated: 2014-12-18
Packaged: 2018-03-02 03:06:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2797313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kittywu/pseuds/Kittywu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I've never seen the sky at night. I've always assumed it looked like when there was a storm, because it gets nearly as dark underwater then. But I don't know how the sky looks at night", he explained.<br/>"You have never seen the stars?" Jean was startled. He couldn't imagine how this boy had never seen the night sky, how he had no idea how the moon looked when it reflected on the surface of the sea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Meteor Shower

**Author's Note:**

> Remember that [merman! Armin AU](http://archiveofourown.org/works/1968738) that I wrote in summer? The one that I said I'd write a sequel to? Well, this is the sequel.  
> Short Recap: Armin is a merman who saved the drowning sailor Jean, he told him he'd take his soul in exchange for that but couldn't bring himself to do it. And well, they kind of fall in love with each other.  
> The title is also a very beautiful song by Owl City that crossed my mind when I tried to get an idea for this prompt.

“You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”, Eren asked as he swum towards him. Armin hadn’t realized that he had approached him, he should have and he grew tense as he felt his touch on his shoulder.  
“What do you mean?”, he stammered and tried to avert his blushing face.  
“You wander off most days, you tell no one where you go and you have this guilty look on your face whenever someone asks you about it.” Eren grinned teasingly and swam in front of the other merman. “You can tell me, I’m your best friend.”  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about”, he said. He tried to sound as calm as possible because even if Eren was his best friend, the only thing that would come from letting him know that he met with a human on a regular basis was trouble.  
“Do you have a girlfriend?”, he asked him with a dead serious look in his eyes. “It’s not Annie is it?”  
“What? No!” Armin denied violently, but giving it a second thought, he should have gone with it, he should have said he had a girlfriend, maybe someone from another kingdom and this wasn’t even that far from the truth. But now it was too late.  
“A boyfriend then?”  
“Eren, I don’t hide anything, believe me”, he told his best friend.  
“And where are you headed right now?”

He didn’t know what he was supposed to say, the truth was no option. If Eren knew that he was swimming to a bay in what he had learned was called America to meet with his human boyfriend, he might tell Mikasa. Or his parents. Or worse, the guards. And Armin knew the penalty of having contact with a human: banishment. And banishment meant no safely guarded walls that surrounded him during night time.

“I have something to do”, he said and tried to loosen himself from his best friend’s grip.  
“Armin, there is talk about you”, Eren said with his hand strongly around his bicep.  
“Talk?”  
“There is rumour that you… saved a human. And people say that you smell like human, too. You wouldn’t do something like that would you?”  
He should have known. He should have been more careful. “Why should I? Humans are dangerous beasts. I’d only get near a drowning one”, he said as calmly and firmly as he could. He needed Eren to believe him. If he would defend him against the rumours, maybe people would grow less suspicious.  
“I know that, but you know how they are. They are just scared. Take care.”  
“Of course I will. I promise.”

* * *

“You’re late today”, Jean said. He was sitting on a rock, his feet dangling in the water. “Hey what’s wrong?”  
“Nothing”, Armin said and placed his arms onto Jean’s knees. Jean leaned down to kiss him, gently lifting the merman up a bit.  
“You sure? You look a bit down today.”

Armin wondered if he should tell Jean about his talk with Eren, if he should tell him how dangerous it was for him to meet up with him every day. But he didn’t want to worry him. And he didn’t know how he’d react if he knew about those secrets.

“I’m glad it’s getting warmer”, Jean said all of a sudden. He started to unbutton his shirt and placed it onto a dry rock, stripped out of his pants and placed them on top of his shirt. “Makes it nicer to do this.” And then he took a deep breath and jumped into the water. Armin slung his arms around the human’s neck as soon as his head had reached the surface again and looked into the amber eyes. He could tell him that they couldn’t see each other again, he thought. He could continue living his merman life as he had until two months ago where he had met Jean. But as he saw the other shivering in the cold water, clinging with his legs onto his fishtail, he knew that he couldn’t do that. He loved him. And he wouldn’t want to live this merman life without Jean anymore.  
“Too bad that there is no spell that could turn me into a merman as well, huh?”, Jean said in between kisses.  
“You wouldn’t want that”, Armin said smilingly.  
“But then I could go home with you and spend every day with you! We wouldn’t have to part ways every evening and we wouldn’t have to hide”, his hands played with the golden shimmering hair.  
“But then you could never see your family and friends again and I don’t think that the guards would let you into the kingdom anyways. You’d still smell like human.”  
“Is that bad?”, Jean said with a sheepish grin.  
“Not per se, but you know, merpeople don’t really like humans”, he said and looked away. It had been easier to lie to Eren than to Jean.  
“But you like me?”

Jean didn’t understand him. How was he supposed to understand? He knew nothing about the life under the sea, he knew nothing of the rules of the merfolk. And it was of no use to explain it all to him. It was too dangerous.

“I like you very much. But I could get into serious trouble for being with you.” It wasn’t even a lie. It was just only half of the truth.  
“If I’d become a merman, would it be different?”  
“You’d still have been human once. Besides, there is now way you’d turn into a merman.”  
With both hands, Jean cupped Armin’s face and made him look straight into his eyes. “Then we’ll just hide very well. Or we’d find a way to turn you into a human. But no matter how, we’ll be together. Will you promise me?”  
“I promise”, Armin said, holding back his tears because he knew how stupid it was to promise something like that. If someone found out about them, he’d be dead.  
“Will you promise me something too?”, Armin said and bit his lip.  
“Of course, love”, Jean said, closed his eyes and kissed him.  
“Whatever happens, please don’t die underwater.”

* * *

"There's a meteor shower tonight", Jean said. He was out of the water again, he lay on his belly on a rock, facing Armin who only let his head peak out of the water.  
"What's a meteor shower?", he asked with curious eyes. His mood had brightened up during the last hour, his face didn't look as troubled as when he had come. Jean wondered what it had been that had troubled him that much, he wondered if something had happened in his underwater home. But what also bothered him was the promise he had given to the beautiful merman. Why would it matter if he died over or underwater?  
"It's beautiful, there will be millions of shooting stars! I hope it will be a clear night."  
The look on Armin's face grew puzzled. "Stars?", he asked.  
"You know, the pretty lights that you see in the night." He was used already to the fact that his boyfriend didn't know of many things, he had no idea of human life and concepts and some words were alien to him. But he should know what stars are. Maybe they had a different name with the merfolk.

"I've never seen the sky at night. I've always assumed it looked like when there was a storm, because it gets nearly as dark underwater then. But I don't know how the sky looks at night", he explained.  
"You have never seen the stars?" Jean was startled. He couldn't imagine how this boy had never seen the night sky, how he had no idea how the moon looked when it reflected on the surface of the sea.  
"I've told you, I can't stay when it gets dark. I have to be back in the kingdom before the sun has set completely or else" Armin flinched, as if he had just thought of something horrifying.  
"What happens if you don't get back by then?", Jean asked carefully.  
"Then they won't let me in anymore. Let's talk about something else, ok?"

It was weird. There were those things that Armin wouldn't talk about, sometimes he teased him and called them his 'merman secrets'. But there were actually only a few things that Jean knew about the merfolk besides the fact that they had fishtails, took souls and didn't like humans. He had already realized that Armin was different apparently, he hadn't taken his soul and he liked him a lot. But he wondered what those merman secrets really were.

"Let's watch the meteor shower together", Jean proposed with a smile. He ran his hand through the soft wet hair.  
"We can't. I'm not allowed to stay outside the town gates after sunset." Armin looked dead serious as he said it, it was a somehow scary expression.  
"But why?"  
"I shouldn't tell you"  
"Another merman secret?"  
"Yes" Jean sighed and kissed his boyfriend. One day maybe, he told himself, Armin would reveal his merman secrets. And maybe one day, being with him would be easier.

"Did you hear that?" Armin turned his head around like a startled dog, blinking a few times.  
"Hear what?" Jean hadn't heard anything but he looked around as well, so that Armin could be calm again. And then he spotted something on the water, it looked like something was coming close, something big probably, like a huge fish or...  
"Jean, run!", Armin screamed but he didn't want to, he wanted to save Armin from whatever was approaching. Panic was written onto the merman's face. So he ran away. He only made it around the next corner where he hid behind a rock, he could still see a bit of the bay from there.

He saw how a group of five what he suspected to be mermen caming up, two of them taking a hold of his arms. Armin was struggling, he was screaming, crying.  
"Armin, I told them that they were wrong! I said that there was no way you are involved with a human", a brown haired merman said. He sounded heartbroken, he couldn't make out his expression from his hiding space, but it was probably pleading, maybe he was crying.  
"Please, Eren, I can explain." Armin sounded desperate himself, and with a shaking voice, he pleaded: "don't mark me, please. I beg you! I don't want to die."  
"I bet it was not his fault, he doesn't deserve to die. He's a friend of princess Annie, I'm sure she'll have mercy on him!", the brown haired said, shaking the arm of another merman.  
"Law is law. Whoever talks to a human that isn't about to drown shall be marked and banished. Whoever refuses to take the soul of a drowning human shall be marked and banished." The voice of the other was firm and authoritarian. He sounded harsh and cold and no matter how long the brown haired begged and Armin cried, he just shook his head.

And then, there was a loud shrieking noise, something he'd never heard before. He heard Armin scream like he was in immense pain. It didn't take long and they were gone again. The brown haired was crying as they left, he apologised to Armin again and again. He clung to him until the two that had held onto Armin's arms until shortly before took hold of him and pulled him away.  
"Farewell, Eren. I hope we will see each other again."

* * *

Armin was crying. No, crying wasn't the right word, he was sobbing.  
"It's my fault, isn't it", Jean said as he slowly approached him.  
"No, it's my own fault. I should have taken your soul back then. And I shouldn't have fallen in love with you."

It hurt Jean to hear him say those things. It hurt him to see him like that. The tears were streaming down his wet face, it was hard to distinguish between them and the drops of saltwater on his skin. It was one merman secret that was revealed to him – merfolk could cry just as humans.

He crouched down in front of Armin and stroked his hair. His other hand rubbed the merman’s fair shoulder. His eye fell onto the red stain on his arm, it looked like some kind of foreign letter and it looked like it was burned into his skin. He had never seen it before so it must have been the doing of the merpeople that had been here earlier. Jean wanted to touch it, but he didn’t, scared that it might hurt Armin.  
“What exactly happened just now?”, he asked quietly. He was prepared to get no answer once again. And he was surprised when he did.  
“I told you that I could get into big trouble. And I told you that we aren’t allowed to talk to humans, right? They found out about you. And I got marked”, he said. “That means I cannot return to the kingdom anymore.”

Even though he knew he was far from grasping the situation, he understood that Armin was in big trouble. They had talked about dying earlier. Jean held onto Armin’s shoulders, carefully not to touch the mark on his left arm. He was maybe as afraid as Armin was.  
“Does that mean you’ll die now?”, he asked barely audible.  
“Well, I won’t die from not returning to the kingdom, but I’ll have to be out at night. And that’s what will probably kill me.” The merman started to cry again, he looked like he was in panic. He was shaking.  
Jean wasn’t sure if he should dare to ask further. “Why will that kill you?”  
“There are sea demons out there. That’s why we are not allowed to be out after sunset. No one _wants_ to be out after sunset.” He had never seen a look like that on anyone’s face before. Fear was written all over him, his eyes glared at him pleadingly, filled with tears.  
“Armin, what are sea demons?”  
“If men drown and they still have their souls in them, they turn into sea demons.” It was like he was choking on every word. “They come out after the sun sets and they kill merpeople.”

Jean stared at Armin in shock. He pulled him in close, he felt the tears rolling down his own cheeks. He was not ready to lose Armin.  
“I’m gonna protect you from those sea demons, Armin. You’re not gonna die as long as I’m here.”

* * *

He had no idea how he was supposed to survive the night. And even if Jean would manage to protect him, he had no idea what would come after that. He had never encountered a sea demon, and if he was honest to himself, no one who had encountered them had ever survived that encounter. Yet, Jean had insisted on getting some sort of human weapon, he had brought himself a coat and a blanket and he was ready to spend the night with Armin in their bay.  
“You’ll get to see the stars, you should be excited”, Jean said as he tried to cheer him up.

And then, the sun set, the sky turned red first, then purple and then black. Even though there was an uneasy feeling in his stomach as the sky got darker and darker, he stared at it in awe.  
“It’s beautiful”, he whispered.  
“Just you wait”, Jean said and ruffled his hair.  
Jean lit up a fire with some wood he had brought earlier. Armin didn’t care for the warmth, but he was mesmerized by the movements of the flames. The fond smiles he saw on Jean’s face were warmer to him. If he could only be sure to see them tomorrow and the day after that.

And then he saw the moon. Saw the stars. The dark skies were lit up by what seemed like a million diamonds with the moon as the big crown jewel. It was something he had never seen before, and he wished to never stop seeing this.  
“Do you see this really bright star over there?”, Jean said and pointed at the sky. “This is the pole star. If you follow it downwards a bit, you see six other stars. If you connect them, it looks a bit like a pot with a handle.”  
Armin searched the sky where Jean pointed for the stars that he was talking about, he lifted his hand up and drew a line between them with his fingers. “What’s with those stars?”  
“They are a constellation, the little bear”, Jean said, smiled and kissed him.  
“What’s a constellation?”, Armin asked, taking Jean’s hand into his.  
“A constellation is a group of stars that form a picture in the sky”, Jean explained.  
“Are there other constellations here?”, Armin asked, eyes large with curiosity.  
“Well, there’s a lot of constellations in the skies but it’s the only one I know.” Jean started to laugh, he squeezed Armin’s hand, his other one scratching the back of his neck.

“Look, Jean, this star, it’s moving!” Armin followed the moving light with his eyes until it was gone. Gazing onto the spot in the dark sky where it had stopped burning.  
“Make a wish, it’s a shooting star”, Jean answered and closed his eyes. “Have you wished for something?”

He had. They probably both knew it, but he had wished to survive the night. Maybe, he thought, those sea demons weren’t as bad as the merpeople said. Maybe they didn’t exist in the first place. And maybe, he would be the first one to survive a night outside the kingdom’s gates and he would see Eren again. He hoped for all this and closed his eyes.

As he opened his eyes, he saw even more shooting stars, things he would have never dreamed to ever witness them. He loved it, they were beautiful. He had never been so in awe before, not as he had seen endless treasures in shipwrecks, not as he had first seen the royal castle from the inside. And as he stared at the sky in awe, he forgot everything about the night, about the sea demons, about the danger and about his worries. There was just him and Jean, the sky, the moon and the stars. He leaned in, close the distance between his and Jean’s mouth and kissed him, maybe as intimate as he never had before.  
“Is that this meteor shower?”, he asked as they parted again.  
“The most beautiful that I have ever seen.”

**Author's Note:**

> Oh by the way, I will write another sequel of this. You maybe want to know if Armin survives his first night outside, huh?


End file.
